Kei suffers his sixth successive loss in final

JAPANESE top seed Kei Nishikori lost a sixth successive final on Sunday when he was defeated by Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in the Buenos Aires clay-court title match. The world No5 had already lost in the Brisbane final in January to Grigor Dimitrov which followed 2016 defeats in tournament deciders in Basel (against Marin Cilic), Toronto (Novak Djokovic), Barcelona (Rafael Nadal) and Miami (Djokovic). “I didn’t play badly, so hopefully I can keep this level going,” said Kei. Kei was seeking a 12th career crown, but he will get another opportunity next week when he plays as top seed at the Rio claycourt tournament.